Set Fire To The Third Bar
by Chasing.Twilight
Summary: an alternate ending in Italy.


I can't stop posting at the moment, especially with songfics

**I can't stop posting at the moment, especially with songfics! Also, to any of you who have read "When you look me in the eyes", it will soon be a twoshot, courtesy of my other favourite ship, Jasper and Alice :)  
The song belongs to the super talented Snow Patrol (who I owe many a fiction to) and it's called "Set Fire to the Third Bar" and anything that seems to have come directly from New Moon, well ... that's because it has. Which belongs to Stephanie Meyer. But seriously, I think she can let me borrow it, because how is it fair that she owns **_**all**_** the Cullen men? Can't she sell me Edward or Jasper?  
--**

**Set Fire To The Third Bar**

"_You ... don't ... want me?"_

"_No."_

Racing through the cars ahead of us, I didn't really have much time to think about what would meet us. All I could think was that if we _didn't _get there in time, what met us would not be compensated at all. If we arrived and he was dead ... I shuddered at the thought. But if we were in time, at least I would get to see his beautiful face again, at least once more.

Our destination was ominous. I placed little stock in the fact that we could possibly get out alive. There was no alive, even if I survived, if anything happened to Edward. I didn't want to think about how my heart would break again if we managed to save him and then he left. I couldn't dwell on that fact however, as I had to save him. I was the only one who could, and it didn't matter anymore if he didn't want me. I would always want him and I would always fight for him, the best my useless human body could.

Alice was tense beside me, not taking any notice of the landscapes and cities that we passed. I supposed that I should take some notice; I doubted I would ever see anywhere but Volterra after today.

"There" she said abruptly, pointing to the castle city atop the closest hill. My eyes widened. How could something so beautiful bring such a terror to my heart? And such an anger; it contained what wanted to kill the love of my existence. I buried my face in my hands – trying not to think about the fact that if Edward had of been here in such a moment of despair, I would have buried my face in his chest – and groaned.

"Volterra" Alice announced in a flat, icy voice.

_I find the map and draw a straight line  
Over rivers, farms, and state lines  
The distance from A to where you'd 'B'  
It's only finger-lengths that I see  
I touch the place where I'd find your face  
My fingers in creases of distant dark places_

_It seemed too coincidental that I should be in Port Angeles with Jessica, on a dark street even. My eyes focused on the short one, trying to match the memory of the man who had threatened me that night almost a year ago._

"_Bella, come on!"_

"_Go eat. I'll catch up in a minute"_

"_Bella, stop this right now!"_

_My muscles locked into place, froze me where I stood. It wasn't Jessica's voice that rebuked me now – it was _his _voice._

When the hallucinations had begun, I had thought I was going insane. Hearing his voice in my head was a step further then imagining it. But now, I would go insane if we didn't arrive in time; if _I_ didn't arrive in time. Alice was stuck, of course, hiding in the shadows, praying I could save her brother. I prayed I could too. But would he even listen to me? _He didn't want me. _Every time I remembered that, my heart thudded and I stumbled. The wall on people ahead of me wasn't going to move if I asked, but I had no intention of asking.

As I hit the first people, they yelled in an unintelligible language. "Hey, guardilo!" I ignored them, pushing through painfully. The more I thought about it, the more I wondered if my attempts would be in vain not because I didn't arrive in time, but because he didn't want to listen. Maybe he just wanted to end it. He didn't want me after all...

_Stop being so stupid!_ I told myself mentally _he thinks your dead and is trying to kill himself!_

But what if he just feels guilty, I wondered. It would make sense. It was his nature to shoulder the blame.

_I hang my coat up in the first bar  
There is no peace that I've felt so far  
The laughter penetrates my silence  
As drunken men find flaws in science_

"_It will be as if I had never existed"_

Climbing into the fountain, I shook my head violently at my thoughts. As if I could ever imagine him not existing. He was the reason for everything I did, and for your existence to be ripped from you, to announce that it was leaving you ... you could never expect to return to the person you once were. You could never be expected to just accept it. Because you had to fight, fight for what gave you reason to live. Maybe I had never wanted to let go of him because I had nothing else to hold onto. Or maybe I just had a love for him that most people would never experience, ever.

So my previous worries about my attempts being in vain because he wouldn't listen to me were banished. I would make him listen.

_Their words mostly noises  
Ghosts with just voices  
Your words in my memory  
Are like music to me_

I thought back to every time I had heard his voice over the past months. Peril. Danger. The times when, if he had been around, would have evoked a similar emotion in him. If, at that time he had still cared for me.

"_Bella, don't do this"_

His words on the cliff rang through my head now, loud and clear. His voice had been like the rain in a desert after a drought. It was enough to make me believe that maybe he still cared.

"_Fight! Damn it, Bella, keep fighting."_

"_Why?"_

There hadn't been any reason to keep fighting then but there was now, and I was running straight towards it. I was nearing the other side of the fountain and I hit the side, tumbling into the crowd. My knees hit the floor and with a sob I dragged myself back to my feet. The water dragged down upon my trousers and slowed me even further.

_I'm miles from where you are,  
I lay down on the cold ground  
I pray that something picks me up  
And sets me down in your warm arms_

I wasn't going to make it. The clock ahead was already chiming midday, and there was still a wall of people ahead of me. Pushing through them roughly, I finally spotted a gap. My hands shook with relief as I finally reached a break in the crowd and staggered forward as fast as my heavy trousers would allow. A family were up ahead, away from the crowd, watching with enjoyment. The oldest little girl turned and looked at something in the shadows. My heart beat quickened as I saw someone was there.

I darted around them, but my old enemy, my greatest flaw, my pathetic _human_ tendencies struck. I had had far too much good luck so far. I should have been expecting it.

I fell, throwing out my hands to stop me, but they slipped from underneath me and my head cracked onto the floor. I lay for a second, before I tried to force myself up, but everything was wobbling and twisting. I struggled onto my knees as the first rays of diamonds burst into the square.

_After I have travelled so far  
We'd set the fire to the third bar  
We'd share each other like an island  
Until exhausted, close our eyelids  
And dreaming pick up from  
The last place we left off  
Your soft skin is weeping  
A joy you can't keep it_

"NO!" I screamed, pushing myself onto my feet as fast as my dizzy state would allow. I suspected concussion, but I forced myself on. He was there, in the sun, in all his glory. My imagination had never been up to the task of recalling him; now I could see his face, his body, his beauty. His eyes were closed, a beatific smile on his face. My heart swelled at the sight of him, my eyes filled with tears as I watched his beautiful face sparkle in the midday sunlight. I had let him die. This was my fault.

"Edward" I sobbed, coming to a halt. It was too late. We were all going to die.

His eyes opened at the sound of his name and his eyes caught mine. His face broke into a heartbreaking smile and he approached me slowly with open arms, but I couldn't move. I shook my head back and forwards, my body wracked with sobs. "No Edward" I whispered. He didn't understand. He must have thought he was dead, because he tilted his head on its side slightly and looked at me, bemused. Then his head snapped around back into the shadows and as he looked back at me, a flash of intuition passed through his dark eyes. He hadn't hunted in a while.

A look of horror adorned his features. Two figures clothed in dark cloaks that covered them completely stepped forward and my slow eyes could only just keep up. They grabbed an arm each and pulled him quickly backwards into the shadows again.

"Miss Bella" a voice said from behind me. It was pleasant, but I could hear that it was laced with menace. I didn't reply, watching as Edward was dragged backwards. His eyes held mine and then the rest of the world was lost to me. His eye held love, anger, realisation and horror. He began to fight against his restraints but they held him. Then he was gone.

_I'm miles from where you are,  
I lay down on the cold ground  
And I pray that something picks me up  
and sets me down in your warm arms_

"Miss Bella" the voice said again, closer this time "my name is Alec. I am going to kill you. Please do not struggle. It will bring attention to us and frankly, is pointless."

My head drooped as he fastened his icy cold, rock hard iron grip around me. He was right, it was pointless. I wasn't going fight back. But as he pulled me into the safety of the shadows, I turned and spat with as much force as I had in his eye. He dropped my arm with a snarl as I saw Alice being dragged along up ahead of me. I ran as fast as I could after her, taking advantage of Alec's in disposal. She caught my eyes and shook her head violently. I ignored her and followed their path. I couldn't hear or see Alec behind me. And then we were in a warm room, surrounded by vampires. I froze and closed my eyes, but opened them slowly when I felt a cold palm place itself on the side of my face. I looked straight into Edward's eyes and gasped. "Edward" I whispered, wanting to hold him, but entranced by the close proximity of his face to mine. "I'm sorry" he whispered, rubbing circles on my cheek with his thumb gently. I placed my hand on top of his. "Not your fault" I replied weakly with a shaky smile. His eyes closed momentarily and then we were surrounded. Two more iron hands gripped me and I was dragged backwards from him. Edward snarled and he was caught too. "I love you" I whispered. He nodded and whispered "I love you" back. My eyes searched his face once more, hungrily, committing every little detail to memory, and then I closed my eyes as they closed in around me, the nameless faces.

The first set of teeth sank into me. The poison leaked into my veins and my legs gave out. My ears were blocked of all sound and I hit the floor, but I didn't even feel the pain. All I could see was my angel. _  
_

_I'm miles from where you are,  
I lay down on the cold ground  
And I pray that something picks me up  
and sets me down in your warm arms._


End file.
